Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

In the 1930s the Town bought the hotel for use as Town Hall and offices.
And it is still used so today. For the first three decades of the century, the
Victorian convention continued: respectable women were expected to wear
hats outdoors. And women not bothered by the respectable tag wore them
for show. The special occasion hat [Sundays, weddings, Easter etc] was an
important fashion statement. Dail and Marilyn Millett live in Mader’s Cove
and still have samples of Mrs. Millett’s work. The January 6th 1938 South
Shore Record carried the advertisement below. Mrs. Millett was now running
the store. She and her hats were a Mahone Bay tradition.
Lifestyle and Food Church Going and Parades
Fred Mosher also tells us about lifestyle then. Perhaps one of the biggest
differences was the influence of the churches and their ministers. It was a
church going society. Ministers were influential, their word often the law.
The church played a large role in spiritual and social life. When times were
hard it was the congregation that were expected to help needy families.
Fred continues:
• ‘Each Sunday we went to S.S. [Sunday School] at 10 and Church at 11. In summer
most afternoons some church service and at 8pm Sunday Night Service
• On idle Sundays the “Orders” [Freemasons from town and surrounding areas]
would march to a Church for Service. It would be led by our Band dressed in Brilliant
Red.
• One Service stands out. The I.O.O.F order marched to the Baptist Church. The Band
had stopped playing and as the very large group of men entered the Church door they
began to sing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. By the time they stopped singing the Church
and balcony were packed.’
Foods and The Apple Barrel
• ‘No TV-no radio. But we had the time of our lives….No air conditioning…no refrigeration…No
Rhuland’s IGA [the grocery store, now The Save Easy],
• But we knew how to keep warm or cool, & to keep bread, milk, butter,
• Each fall the vessels would go to P.E.I. and return with full cargoes of White Potatoes,
…. Blue Potatoes, yellow turnip, carrots and onions…also some cabbage…
• Grandmother knew how much to order to last…They were all stored in our cellar….
no cement wall or floor, just moist ground…. in different wood bins…We [Fred and
his sisters] would bury apples in the sauerkraut just to have different apples. Also
stored there were various barrels of apples, salt pork and salt cod…..dry beans-yellow
eyed. The bread milk and butter were also stored there.
• Upstairs in the Rough Room we had poles where we strung our Pig’s pudding, Sausages
and the apple schnitzs-quarters of apples, peeled and cored
• We had no citrus fruit or green vegetables all winter.’
Photos: Courtesy Settlers Museum
Special Trips
• ‘Each fall we would take special trains to the Lunenburg Fisherman’s Picnic, The
Bridgewater Exhibition, and the big Lutheran Church Picnic at Wentzell Lake.
That was the big one. A Merry-go-Around and all.’
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